Back Squat – Page 34 – Nick Momrik's Fitness Logs

Still a Little Cloudy

My head it still a little cloudy this morning, even after going to bed by 9pm. Oh well, shake it off with a workout at 9am right?

Warm-up

500m Row
2 Rounds
- 10/10 Scorpions
- 10s of Leg Swings (s2s, f2b)
- 10 Wall Squats

Strength

5 Sets

3 Back Squats (32X1 Tempo)
2m Rest

* For the first set use your max weight from the 5×5 32×1 tempo back squats we did last week.

Holy shit that was heavy to start! I went 215#, 225#, 230#, 235#, and 240#. The pause at the bottom is brutal.

After another rest period follow that up with a max rep set at 30X1 tempo with 135#. I fought for 26 reps and then collapsed on the ground. Felt like I just got done with a WOD after that big set.

WOD

30-20-10

Row (calories)
GHD Sit-ups
Thrusters (95#)

Not much left in the tank for this WOD. My legs wouldn’t even work on the rower. Finished in 14:50.

My hamstrings and triceps and still pretty sore from Sunday. Maybe I shouldn’t have done those extra 300 air squats that night. Took some extra rest today since tempo back squats were on the menu and hit up the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

500m Row
3/3 World’s Greatest Stretch
2 Rounds
- 10 Inch Worms
- 10 Leg Swings (F-B, S-S, each leg)
- 10 Flamingos (each leg)

Strength

5×5 Back Squats with 3-2-X-1 Tempo

These are never easy. Entirely different ball game from regular squats. I focused on good form through each rep and keeping everything tight by holding my breath until the ascent out of the hole. Used 135#, 165#, 185#, 205#, and 215#. Don’t think I could have gone heavier either. Felt solid in my lifts even though it’s nowhere near the 255# I used for a normal 5 reps recently.

WOD

20 Hang Power Cleans (155#)
30 Box Jumps (30″)
40 OH Weighted Walking Lunges (45# plate)
50 Wall Balls (20#, 10′ target)

Phew! I went 10-5-5 on the cleans, unbroken 30 on the box jumps (but not rebounding), 17-15-8 on the lunges, and 5 sets of 10 for wall balls. Finished in 9:06, one of the top Rx times of the day, but am pissed at myself for the finish. I know my wall balls are a weakness and I pussed out by doing sets of 10. I should have pushed harder for bigger sets, especially starting out.

Finisher

So to punish myself and get in some extra work, I strapped on the 20# weight vest when I got home and did 100 unbroken weighted air squats. They were pretty ugly since my legs were fried, but I did them. Took me 2:29.

We Are Spartans!

Yesterday I did a 4.7 mile Spartan Race with a group from CrossFit Full Strength. It was a lot of fun and we all did really well. I was 13th in my age group and 70th overall for men on the day, both in the top 10%, with a time of 1:08:01. After going out for food and drinks I was exhausted and slept over 10 hours last night. Was feeling a little tired this morning, but not too bad other than my hips are really tight. Let myself recover some more and went in for the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

500m Row
3 World’s Greatest Stretch (each leg)
5 Inch Worms
10 Leg Swings (F2B and S2S, each leg)

Strength

5 Sets

2-4 Front Squats
3-5 Back Squats
2m Rest

Holy shit! Super setting front squats with back squats is the toughest squat strength day I’ve ever done. I nearly passed out during the last 3 sets and was sweating more than I did from WOD.

Weight	Front Squats	Back Squats
135#	4	5
165#	4	5
195#	4	5
225#	3	3
255#	2	5

I had a plan going in to get to 255# by going up 30# each set. It’s always nice when that works out! I hit 255# for a front squat 2RM last week and for a back squat 5RM the week before. Could I do them back-to-back though? Hell yeah! I don’t think I could have gotten another rep at each one. I did take it a little easy on my reps in the 4th set, but I’m ok with that since it allowed me to get heavy and I still hit the minimum reps. Thrilled with this after an exhausting day yesterday. Walking for the next few days might be tough.

WOD

2 Rounds

50 Push-ups
100 DU
75 AbMat Sit-ups

I ordered the SR-1 Speed Rope from Rogue, which came in on Friday. Tried it out for the first time today in this WOD. Damn it’s a heavy rope! I could really feel the fatigue from it. The handles are awesome, but I might swap out the extra wire that came with the Again Faster Revolution rope. Push-ups were by far the most difficult part of this for me (which I expected), but the last 50 sit-ups were pretty brutal and got slow, but I managed to do all of the sit-ups unbroken in both rounds. My time was 12:17.

The Real Bear Complex

Yesterday I rested. Walked 9 holes of golf early in the morning, which was good active recovery. I was pretty wrecked from Saturday through Tuesday so my body needed it. I’m still sore today, but don’t feel destroyed like I did. Went in for the 9am.

Warm-up

2 Rounds

5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
20 Sit-ups

2x Bergener Warm-up with empty bar

Strength

10:00 EMOM

Power Snatch
Hang Full Snatch

I’m excited about all of the snatch work we’ve been doing. Today I really focused on full hip extension and I think I made some great progress. I went 75#, 85#, 95#, 105# for 3 minutes, 115# for 2 minutes, and 125# for the last 2 minutes. In the 9th minute I lost focus a bit and had to bail on the full snatch in the bottom of the squat, but I picked it back up and got the rep in. I felt like my hip extension was pretty good in the power snatches and still short from the hang position. It’s definitely improving though.

WOD

5 Rounds

7 TnG Bear Complex (Power Clean, Front Squat, SH to OH, Back Squat, SH to OH)

* Combining is allowed, such as doing a thruster for front squat + shoulder to overhead.
* Increase weight each round.
* Partner up so you rest while the other person is working.

I’ve done bear complexes, but never as it’s designed to be done, with 7 TnG reps of the complex per “round”. It was definitely a challenge! Started off light with 75# to get the feel for it and warm up some more. Then went 85#, 95#, 115#, and 125#. Pretty much thrusters and back thrusters the entire way for me. I did quite a bit of resting with the bar on my back in the last round and some in the 4th round. Going any heavier would have been very difficult to finish.

Hike

After 4pm I headed out and did a hike. 2.39 miles in 1:03:59, while wearing the 20 pound weight vest. Strapping that thing around my chest really adds a whole other level to the hike.

Double Strength

After being in Hawaii for a week I was excited to hit the box and throw around some barbells. I think the break from heavy weights was good though. Slept for 11 hours last night after not getting more than a couple of short naps on the flight the night before, so went in for the noon class.

Warm-up

50 Jumping Jacks
40 Mountain Climbers
30 Bicycles (each side)
20 Body Blasters
10 Burpees

First time doing body blasters I think. You get down on your back on the ground, roll up to your upper back and then use the momentum rolling up to your feet and standing up. Get really tough for the last 10 reps.

Strength

5 Sets

5 Deadlifts
2m Rest

With the first set as a warm-up, I did 5 reps at each of 135#, 225#, 275#, 315#, 345#, and 375#. Felt really good and is a big jump for a set of 5 for me.

5 Sets

5 Back Squats
2m Rest

Don’t think I’ve ever done two big strength movements on the same day like this, so was unsure how these would go. Just did sets of 5-7 a couple of weeks ago, so was looking to get higher. I went with 135#, 165#, 195#, 225#, and 255# for 5 reps each. That’s 5# heavier on the last set (compared to 2 weeks ago) and it was a fight on the last few reps. Probably should have gone up a little higher early on and taken smaller jumps in weight, but this felt good.

WOD

800m Run
50 Back Squats (135#)
800m Run

Did the first run at around 3:30 and broke the back squats into sets of 30 and 20. It wasn’t really the squatting that got to me, it was the cardio aspect of it. Probably had close to a minute in the middle of those squat sets. The last run was absolutely brutal, but will keep the legs from getting too sore after the 50 back squats. Finished in a time of 11:18.

Back to Back Squats

Coming down with the sniffles today, probably due to the cold nights because the heating situation where I’m staying sucks. It started warming back up today though, so that should be the end of the freezing temperatures. Shoulders were really looking forward to resting today after a few days of hitting them hard. Went in for the 5:15pm class.

Warm-up

Run 800m
10 Air Squats
10 Push-ups
10 Burpees

Strength

5 Sets of 5-7 Back Squats, 2-3 minutes of rest between sets

8 @ 45#
7 @ 135#
7 @ 165#
7 @ 195#
5 @ 225#
5 @ 250#

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve done a lot of heavy back squats like this. Back at Survival Fitness we pretty much switched away from them to box squats a few months back. Nice to hit them hard again. Based on my previous 1RM, my goal was to hit 250 for 5 reps, which is supposed to put me at around 290 for a 1RM (and those calculators are usually a little low in my experience). I didn’t think I was going to get it after the set at 225#. It was a fight, but I got all 5 reps.

WOD

21-15-9

Deadlifts (255#)
Box Jumps (30″)

The Rx was 295# on the deadlifts and after getting light-headed on Saturday with 3 sets of 7 at 315# I knew scaling it would be smart for me. I broke the deadlifts down into 7-7-7, 5-5-5, and 5-4. My box jumps were pretty much unbroken, just getting set if I lost balance coming down off the box, but no rebounding since it was a high box. Finished in 6:43 and felt good about it.

Finisher

Core MB Complex, alternating with a partner
2 Rounds each

10 Chest passes
10 Overhead passes
10 Side Tosses R
10 Side Tosses L
10 Straight up

I paired up with Zach and we used a 20# MB. Wow, what a burn that was!

Sunday’s Triple WODs and OLY

Up and at ’em early for the 9am. Lower back is a little tight from the deadlifts yesterday, but feeling good otherwise.

Warm-up

500m Row
2 Rounds
- 10 Push-ups
- 10 Pull-ups
- 10 AbMat Sit-ups

Each of the following 3 WODs have a 10 minute time cap with a continuous running clock. So if you get done with a WOD early, you rest until the next 10 minute chunk comes up.

WOD #1

3 Rounds

10 Ring Dips
50 DUs

Busted through this one in 3:37, hitting the last 50 DUs unbroken. Broke up the ring dips a bit in the 2nd and 3rd rounds

WOD #2

3 Rounds

14 HSPU
40 AbMat Sit-ups

I knew this one would be the toughest because that’s 42 HSPU and the sit-ups are never fast. I did the first round of HSPU unbroken, which is my best streak to date. Was really forced to get the kip down earlier in the week, which helped a lot here. I think I went 8-6 and then 6-4-4 in the last two rounds. Finished in 7:42.

WOD #3

3 Rounds

10 Hang Power Cleans (135#)
15 Burpees

Good way to finish it out. For the cleans I went 10 unbroken in round 1, 5-5, and then 6-4. Just tried to keep a nice steady pace with the burpees so I could keep going. Total time of 5:29.

That was a fun workout and a nice one for a Sunday.

Olympic Lifting

I headed back to eat something and then was back to CrossFit Full Strength at noon for the OLY class.

We started out doing a type of bear complex.

Deadlift and power up to shrug.
Hang Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Jerk (from the back)

I did a few of those with 95# and then we did one EMOM for 10:00. I stuck with 95# for the first 5 and then jumped up to 115#. After a bit of rest we started doing:

Power Clean
Squat Clean
Push Jerk

I did one at 115#, one at 145#, and then three at 165# I think. From there we went to push presses, working from some warm-up sets of 5, to triples, doubles, and singles. I’m not exactly sure what weights I used, but I think it was something like:

5 @ 95#
5 @ 105#
3 @ 115#
3 @ 145#
2 @ 155#
1 @ 165#

I wasn’t keeping track and really don’t remember. Next up we did sets of 5 strict shoulder presses.

5 @ 95#
5 @ 95#
5 @ 105#
5 @ 115#
4 @ 125#

There was a lot of good work in that hour+ of work. It’s good to be back for the Olympic lifting work for sure. Johnny knows his stuff and was picking out a few little things in both my clean and my jerk. I tend to sit forward a bit when receiving the cleans and not enough back on my heels. My stance was starting with my feet too far apart in the clean, not allowing enough room for my knees to push out and get out-of-the-way of the bar. I need to get my front foot out forward more in the jerk. Good stuff!

After the HSPU and all of that pressing, my shoulders are feeling it.

Back in Phoenix

It was nice having a few days off while I drive out here to Phoenix. Yesterday I went for a hike and wore the 20# vest, which maybe wasn’t a great idea for my first hike of the year. I felt like I was going to keel over in the first 5 minutes, but only slowed down on the ascent to take drinks of water. Including the “hike” to and from the car, it ended up being 2.69 miles in 1:06:47, with over 1,000 feet of vertical climb. I also walked 18 holes of golf in the afternoon, so it was a great day!

This morning I got up and went in for the 9am class at CrossFit Full Strength. It was good to be back!

Warm-up

400m Run
3 Rounds
- 20 Band Walks (each direction)
- 10 Band Presses
- 20 Alternating Prone Hitchhikers

WOD

10 Rounds

10 Back Squats (135#)
10 KBS (53#)
10 Push-ups
10 GHD Sit-ups

The Rx weights were body weight for the squats and 70# for the swings, but Emily said nobody in the earlier classes was anywhere near Rx. The weight for the back squats was pretty perfect because I had to start taking a rest after 5 or 6 reps in the later sets. Wouldn’t have wanted to go any heavier for the KBS either since I’m not used to American swings with us always doing Russian swings back in Saginaw. My GHD Sit-ups were slow! Finished in 21:19.

What a Bear!

Kind of tired this morning, but went to 9am to get it done.

Warm-up

4 Rounds

15s Jumping Jacks
15s Air Squats
15s Mountain Climbers
15s Jump Squats

4 Rounds

15s Plank
15s Supermans
15s Right Side Plank
15s Left Side Plank

Strength

Find 1RM Front Squat

After hitting my previous 1 rep max (235#) for 3 reps last week, I was looking for a nice PR today. Warmed up with 6 reps at 135# and then went 185#, 215#, 235#, 245#, and 255# for a 20# PR. It was pretty easy too.

WOD

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Modified Bear Complex (Clean Thruster + Back Squat Thruster)
2x DU

I went Rx with 115# and finished just under the time limit with 25:45. Pretty happy with that because a long barbell complex in far from my strength and I held my own. I’ll be feeling that one in my legs for a few days.

Explosive Work

Went over to Kevin’s garage tonight to work on some new explosive stuff.

Lightened Deficit Deadlifts

With a black band anchored overhead so we basically had 100% weight at the top of the lift for the lockout

5 @ 295#
5 @ 365#
5 @ 365#
5 @ 415#

The black bands gave up a lot of help at the bottom of the lift, so that we could explode up from the bottom. I used lifting straps on the last round and still almost lost the weight. Had to kind of regrip after the 3rd rep.

Then we did 50 speed 1/4 back squats with #225. You do all 50 in a row, but every other set of 10 you go up on to your tip toes, starting with the first 10. That’s a long time to have that much weight on your back and by the end of the 50 it’s really a lot.

Next we did 100 good mornings. I used 95# and broke it down into 50-20-15-15. Tough. My legs started to get wobbly after these.

To finish things off we did 5 sets of 3 kneeling jumps. The first set was just jumping up to our feet, then using a sand-filled PVC pipe to do cleans. Next I think we did a couple sets for broad jump distance and finally one set with the heavy PVC on our back and to just get back to our feet.